This Wednesday, July 16, Toulouse becomes the scene of a major sporting and heritage event for the 28th time: the Tour de France. Back on the love story between the little queen and the pink city.
This Wednesday, the Toulousains will again vibrate with pleasure on the occasion of the 112nd edition of the Tour de France. An annual event that has delighted young and old for generations. In recent months, after research in many Toulouse archives, Pierre Pisani has recorded the passages of the Tour de France in Toulouse in a collection transmitted to La Dépêche du Midi.
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“The idea was to cross two heritage: that of the Tour de France, which is a sporting but also cultural event, and that of the Toulouse monuments. Show how the big loop married the contours of the city, how it highlighted it through its routes, its arrival places, its anecdotes”, explains the director of the service of the heritage inventory and the archeology of Toulouse Métropole. His collection may be the subject of a publication in the more or less close future.
“A moment of communion”
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Did you know that, during the first editions, the arrivals were made on the Jules-Guesde aisles or at the Bazacle Velodrome? This wooded ring built in 1890 was demolished around 1950 after the construction of the municipal stadium on the island of Ramier.
At the time, the delivery of the brassards to the runners was at the Café Sion at 3, bis Boulevard de Strasbourg. This symbol of the Belle Epoque, with its canopy in the shape of a boat hull, welcomed a bourgeois and worldly society in a luxurious setting designed by the architect Paul Pujol. It was destroyed after the Second World War.
Here are other unknown anecdotes on the relationship between Toulouse and the legendary cycling race. In total, calculated Pierre Pisani, between 1903 and 2019, the Pink City welcomed the Tour de France 28 times: twenty-four times as a city-stage, twice as a departure town and twice as a city-arrivated.
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“The tour was – and is always – a moment of communion, a traveling spectacle. It is part of our collective heritage. It marks eras, landscapes, cities. It is as much a history of sport as territory. At each stage, it prints its passage in cities, in landscapes, in the spirits. Toulouse is a perfect example.”
Among the illustrious runners who crossed the pink city, let us mention in particular Cétauxo Coppi in 1952, Gastone Nencini in 1960, Jacques Anquetil in 1961, Roger Pingeon in 1967, Eddy Merckx in 1970, Bernard Hinault in 1985 or Julian Alaphilippe in 2019.
Since 1903, Toulouse has lived to the rhythm of the Tour de France. Here is our selection of archive images published in La Dépêche.
1-Yvette Horner, the popular caravan icon
In the 1950s, the Tour de France passed five times through Toulouse. In 1952, during the 16th stage between Perpignan and Toulouse, led for the first time by Yvette Horner and her accordion, the Belgian André Rosseel won his last stage victory. “The Tour popular France was Yvette”.
2. Toulouse, City stage of the first Tour de France
“Toulouse was a city city during the first seven editions between 1903 and 1909. It was quite unknown, but it was here that the first stage winner was crowned,” said Pierre Pisani. Arrivals were made on the Jules-Guesde aisles or at the Bazacle Vélodrome, destroyed in the 1980s. Between 1949 and 1970, arrivals were made on the Vélodrome of the Municipal Stadium.
3. The Midi Dispatch at the front posts
The Tour de France has always passionate about the journalists of the Dépêche du Midi. Reporters follow the turn, perched on motorcycles or in cars in the colors of the newspaper, as here in 1954.
4- Raymond Poulidor falls a few kilometers from the finish
On July 6, 1964, stage 14 of the Tour linked Andorra to Toulouse. In difficulty at the start, Anquetil manages to go back to the lead where Bahamontes and Poulidor are located. Raymond Poulidor falls 24 km from the finish after a change of wheel. Taking advantage of the incident, Anquetil and the others accelerate. The Belgian Edward Sels won the sprint, while Poulidor, delayed, ends with 2 ’36 ”late and fell back in 6th place.
The next day, during the Toulouse – Luchon Raymond Poulidor stage, stung by his mishap from the day before, won and resumes 1 minute 43 to Jacques Anquetil.
5- fervor around the advertising caravan
Established in 1930, the advertising caravan is the joy of spectators, as here Place du Capitole, in 1956, from the 14th stage between Toulouse and Montpellier. Nowadays, fervor is still so strong.
6- Biscottos on the podium
The year 2003 corresponds to a special edition for Toulouse since it was a city of arrival and departure city. That year, on the pink city podium, Lance Armstrong was given his yellow jersey by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
